General Motors expects 2500 and 3500 series trucks to go flex-fuel “soon”

In Michigan, General Motors said that it expected to bring flex-fuel technology to its 2500 and 3500 series trucks “soon”. The company said that 50 percent of its models will have flex-fuel technology by 2012, and that 3 million of its vehicles are flex-fuel enabled.” Flex-fuel trucks, introduced into more aspects of the farming cycle, will reduce carbon emissions associated with ethanol production.

GM continues to push hard on promotion of E85 and flex-fuel vehicles as an offset to the imposition of stricter CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards. Every flex-fuel car sold contributes an offset to each car maker’s CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standard, under the new Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) signed last month.
Last month, the energy and environment director for General Motors told the Reuters Global Agriculture and Biofuel Summit that it aims to help 10,000 US gas stations to add E85 pumps by 2011. General Motors assists stations add E85 by locating grant money for conversion and supporting conversions with direct marketing to GM’s base of flex-fuel vehicle buyers.

Recently, the CEO of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, said that the US needs to increase the number of ethanol stations by a factor of 10-15, from 1400 today to as many as 20,000. He added that the company has been working with companies such as Wal-Mart and Target to add ethanol to their fuel distribution services.

General Motors will invest $31 million in upgrading its engine manufacturing plant at Tonawanda. The upgrade will make the Ecotec 2.2-liter engines E85-enabled, and will also improve emissions in time for 2009 models. The Tonawanda plant produces 25 percent of GM’s E85 fleet.

General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said that only “a very narrow portion of the population will make a financial sacrifice to be green. But I don’t think we can count on the majority of the American public to make a financial sacrifice….even as gasoline goes to $4 a gallon, you’re still going to see people doing the calculation. How much more do I have to pay for a hybrid system? Lutz was speaking to Jeffrey Ball of the Wall Street Journal.

Lutz added “Ever since CAFE legislation has been in effect, General Motors has improved the efficiency of its truck fleet by 60%, the fuel efficiency of its passenger-car fleet by 100%, and fuel use in the United States has done nothing but go up. So the idea that by legislating 35 miles per gallon, we’re somehow going to use less fuel, it would be the first time that it ever worked, because it inevitably results in people taking their fuel budget and buying a larger car.”

In Michigan last month, Lutz said that “global warming is “a crock of s—.” GM’s CEO, Rick Waggoner, said that the comments did not reflect GM’s position, adding that his belief is that “the data is pretty clear that the temperature on the earth is rising.” Bob Lutz is in charge of developing GM’s flex-fuel and hybrid vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt which is due to debut in 2010.

Lutz recently said that only 1 in 12 consumers want modern diesel engines because they cost $3,000 to $4,000 per vehicle, and that the popularity of diesel engines in Germany is the result of punitive tax policies that skew the market, result in gasoline costing $8 per gallon compared to $4 for diesel fuel.

Bob Lutz, speaking at the Automotive News World Congress, said that natural market share of diesel is more like the 8-10 percent seen in Switzerland. Lutz added that GM is developing a full range of diesel vehicles but that ethanol had to be a priority for the car maker because of the popularity of the internal combustion engine.

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